birdgirl: young ornithologist

Showing posts with label young ornithologist. Show all posts

Monday, 24 June 2019

My 5 top birding hotspots for Wonderlust

Being asked to write a piece for Wonderlist - The Original Travel Magazine - was really exciting!

My article was about my top 5 birding hotspots - the fantastic places where you can see lots of different bird species. It was hard to choose 5, but here it is:

https://bit.ly/2ZNdhPV

Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig, USA
Copyright Mya-Rose Craig

About the Author

Young environmentalist and birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 17-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes posts about birding, conservation and environmental issues from around the world.

She has been involved in the UK organisation of the Youth Strikes encouraging young people from around the world to not go to school once a month and protest instead demanding immediate action to prevent climate breakdown. This is an interview in New Statesman.

She was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people.

She organised four nature is helping to run four more in 2019. She also organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans two more in 2019. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Visible Minority Ethnic people and is President. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change.

She has given over 50 talks, speaking at conferences such as being on a panel with George Monbiot and Caroline Lucas on Sustainability and the Future of Cities. She is a Minister in Chris Packham's Manifesto for Nature in 2018 and spoke in front of 10,000 people at the Walk for Nature. She has also appeared on TV and radio and is particularly proud of being in Silent Roars, a short film which was part of Listen to Britain 2017 https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-silent-roars-2017-online.

She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. She was also listed as one of Bristol's BME top 100 powerlist.

She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. She became the youngest person to see 5000 birds in 2019 age 16 and is looking forward to visiting Brazil birding in 2019 and hopes to see half the birds in the world there. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter. If you would like to contact Mya-Rose about her work, please e-mail helenabcraig@hotmail.co.uk.

Monday, 3 June 2019

Top of Surfbirds

In February 2019 I saw my 5000th bird in the world, using the IOC world bird list. My 5000th bird was a Rock Bunting which I saw in Aragon, Spain. It was a really special moment, as for me it represents 5,000 beautiful birds, 5,000 birding experiences and 5,000 amazing places. The number just represents all of that in one word.

I am the youngest person in the world to see that many birds and this is the list of young birders on a listing page on a website called Surfbirds. It was quite a fantastic feeling to finally reach the top of it.

Surfbirds Young Birders World List

About the Author

Young environmentalist and birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig

She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. She was also listed as one of Bristol's BME top 100 powerlist.

Saturday, 25 May 2019

Best Birding Apps 2019 - BirdWatchingBuzz

One of the things I like to keep up to date with is other bird-related websites and blogs.

On the USA BirdWatchingBuzz website, there is a really comprehensive review of Apps for birding in the USA where they seem to be miles ahead https://birdwatchingbuzz.com/birding-apps/

Mya-Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl with her Leica Bins
Copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

As I do a lot of world birding, sometimes it's hard to know what the best Apps are that are available and good to use abroad.

I really liked the review for Larkwire, which helps you learn bird calls, as it can be overwhelming learning lots of bird song and calls in a new country. The review gives all the information you need about this and 4 other Apps.

Mya-Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl with Author Jonathan Franzen
Copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

About the Author

Young environmentalist and birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig

She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. She was also listed as one of Bristol's BME top 100 powerlist.

Thursday, 15 February 2018

Mya-Rose Birdigirl Craig Interview on ITV West News age 11 year old

When I was 11 years old, I saw my 3000th bird species in the world. It was a stunning Regent Bowerbird which I saw on my second day in Queensland, Australia at Lamington National Park in July 2013.

I had spent 6 months in South America in 2012 on during the last few days in Peru, our guide Gunnar desperately tried to find me the last few bird species to get me to 3000, but it just wasnt to be.

In January 2014, a blog appeared about the birds I had seen. This led to some articles locally and in the national press.

http://www.bathmercury.com/chew-valley-school-pupil-hits-3000-twitches/

That in turn led to an invite on ITV local news, to be interviewed about my birding. At the time, I felt really calm and not nervous at all. Looking back now, it is incredible how calm I appear. We had arrived really late, just mum as usual. She has throught it was a recorded interview for the following evening and told me that if I went wrong, I should just say could I do that again. Apparaently, as soon as we were ushered into the studio, mum realised it was a live interview but did not have the opportunity to tell me. That might have been the reason why I was so relaxed on live TV!

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 15-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. She is looking forward to visiting Guatamala, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagasca birding in 2018 and hopes to see her 5000th bird species in the world.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She is an Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, See It Her Way and a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People. She has given over 50 talks, speaking at conferences such as being on a panel with George Monbiot and Caroline Lucas on Sustainability and the Future of Cities. She has also appeared on TV an dis particularly proud of being in Silent Roars, a short film whihc was part of Listen to Britain 2017 https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-silent-roars-2017-online. She organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans to run her fifth Camp Avalon camp in 2018. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Black Asian Minority Ethnic people. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.

Wednesday, 14 February 2018

An art project that directly greenifies the planet by artist Margarita Mitrovic

Make 100 Trees is the latest project by London-based designer-artist Margarita Mitrovic. The concept of the project is to make 100 artworks of trees, which will directly fund the

planting of 100 real trees. By depicting each tree in a different style and technique, the artist aims to demonstrate their uniqueness, individuality and most importantly their value to our lives and planet. The artist explains: “There is superfluous to say that each tree is unique. In my eyes trees are live magic creatures which have their hands - branches, legs - roots, skin - bark and hair - leaves, but they also have a soul. In my career I have mainly focused on human portraits as a means to represent individual personalities through simple brushstrokes, colour and medium. In this project, I am creating “portraits” of trees through which I want to demonstrate their uniqueness and remind people how beautiful those enormous giants are! I use pens, pencils and markers to show the shape of branches and the incredible surface and texture of tree bark. On the other hand I use paint, ink and brushes to represent their density and volume when they are blooming and blossoming.”

The project joins two of Margarita’s greatest passions - Art and Nature, as her favourite activities include creating artworks in her London studio and going for long walks and hikes around the UK and beyond. “Trees are super important for our health and well-being and are vital for the environment and wildlife, but as our planet becomes more urbanised, we are losing forests and trees every day. This is a global issue and I want to use art as a tool to make a positive impact on nature.” - explains Margarita.

Each artwork will be unique and original, created by the artist in a different style and technique on a standard format of 15x15 cm. A hundred works of art (made using pencils, pens, markers, ink, paint, charcoal, fabrics, thread, cardboard, photography, laser cutters, 3D printers and much more) all showing a tree, but all of them individual, just like each tree is. Margarita is launching this project through Kickstarter - a crowdfunding platform, which allows people to gather funds for their creative work. The crowdfunding will run for a limited period of 35 days (Jan 31st - March 8th), during which people can order an original artwork for £25, an artwork print for £10 or even book an art masterclass with Margarita in her studio. Once the project is complete, an art exhibition of the 100 artworks will be organised in a London gallery, showcasing them to the public before they are sent off to their new owners. Part of the sales profits will be used to plant 100 real trees, thanks to a collaboration with Trees for Cities, a UK charity that is on a mission to plant 1 million trees in UK cities by 2020.

You can see the project and support it via this kickstarter link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/764720081/100-artworks-of-trees-100-planted-trees?ref=user_menu

About the artist

Margarita Mitrovic is a multi-award-winning London-based designer and visual artist. She applies her creative skills in a wide variety of projects, including interior design, branding, graphics and illustration. She began her career path after graduating in Interior & Spatial Design at the University of Hertfordshire branch in Moscow, Russia, and since then her experience spans from working in small interior design studios to large architecture practices in Moscow and London, as well as independent and client work in illustration, graphics and art.

Hi resolution images available here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ry09w6axr0h9nlm/AAAqct4WqSirRZpyxuV0Dzs4a?dl=0

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 15-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. She is looking forward to visiting Guatamala, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagasca birding in 2018 and hopes to see her 5000th bird species in the world.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She is an Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, See It Her Way and a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People. She has given over 50 talks, speaking at conferences such as being on a panel with George Monbiot and Caroline Lucas on Sustainability and the Future of Cities. She has also appeared on TV an dis particularly proud of being in Silent Roars, a short film whihc was part of Listen to Britain 2017 https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-silent-roars-2017-online. She organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans to run her fifth Camp Avalon camp in 2018. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Black Asian Minority Ethnic people. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.

Sunday, 11 February 2018

Ringing a Wood Pigeon - my first adult ringed

Last Saturday, 10th February 2018, I was busy revising for my GCSE exams. The weather was pretty bad and so Dad and I had not gone to the ringing station.

Dad had put some foods out in a trap, as usual, to see if he could catch something. I hadn't been hopeful.

At 11 am, Dad ran into the house and straight up the stairs to my room. He was really excited and told me that he had caught a Wood Pigeon.

I had ringed a young bird in the nest before at Chew Valley Lake, but never ringed an adult.

Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig ringing a Wood Pigeon on 10 February 2018
Photograph copyright Mya-Rose Craig

Once I had it in a tight grip, it was really calm and so a lovely bird to ring. It was also actually really beautiful.

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig